Transport dollies are commonly used for transporting various items, including cube-shaped containers, boxes, cases, stackable transport boxes, or more generally, any object which the user does not wish to carry. For a typical flat panel dolly, a support plate is used having attached wheels which roll across a surface. The upper side of the support plate acts as a supporting surface for the item to be transported. A handle may optionally be provided to pull, push or otherwise direct the trolley.
In one known trolley system, as described in US Patent Publication No. 2005/0006861, the dimensions of the supporting surface and the arrangement of the transported items are preferably chosen in such a way that two transport boxes can be positioned on the supporting surface, adjacent to one another, but without contacting each other. Additional transport boxes can be stacked on top of the first set of adjacent boxes, to provide additional storage space.
The transport boxes described in US 2005/0006861 comprise two top cover halves which are each rigidly hinged on the longitudinal side walls of the transport boxes. When full, the transport boxes are first arranged next to each other, and then, stacked above one another. During transport of the empty transport boxes however, the transport boxes are opened so as to allow them to be stacked into each other in a compact fashion. However, the stack of empty transport boxes is at least as large as one transport box, and the supporting trolley. As such, it is inconvenient to carry or store this assembly, or to transport this assembly when the transport boxes are empty.
As such, while this system provides some advantages over the prior art, it is still inconvenient to travel with the full sized empty containers and trolley, even though the transport boxes have been stacked one into another. Further, when moved to the desired location, the boxes can be removed from the trolley and stacked for storage, but it is still necessary to separately store the supporting trolley. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a transportable trolley system which was more easily moved when the transport boxes were empty, or which can be more easily stored, when it was desired to stack and not move the supporting trolley.